THE ENGLISH LAND SYSTEM 67 



Eminent rural economists and political economists 

 supported the policy of inclosures as the best means 

 of improving agriculture and consequently of increas- 

 ing rents. Sir John Sinclair, himself a large land- 

 owner, for some years President of the Board of 

 Agriculture, was an enthusiast in the matter of 

 inclosures. His reports abound with statements in 

 favour of the system. His arguments in its favour 

 are elaborate and conclusive from his own point of 

 view.^ " The very appearance of inclosures," he says, 

 " indicates comfort and security. Landlords, on that 

 account, never fail to draw very advanced rents from 

 well-inclosed lands. They are generally let at from 

 2/- to perhaps 10/- or 15/- per acre higher than open 

 lands of the same description in their immediate 

 neighbourhood." In a letter written in 181 1, he 

 describes the effect of inclosures and consolidation 

 of holdings on a particular parish : — 



"The chief circumstance," he writes, "in which 

 the present differs from the past state of the parish 

 (Melrose) is the general enlargement of the farms. 

 Except in the case of the carrier, and the miller, who 

 rent a few acres, a small farm is nearly unknown. 

 The displacing of the old small tenants was at first 

 viewed with deep regret, but the introduction of a 

 better and more spirited style of agriculture has, in 

 a limited period, raised the rental of the parish from 

 ^4000 to nearly £20,000 a year." 



Arthur Young, who was secretary to the Board of 

 Agriculture was — for similar reasons — much in favour 



^ These arguments are set out at length in a chapter on " The Natun^ 

 and Advantages of Inclosures," contained in "The Code of Agriculture," 

 by Sir John Sinclair, Bart, Founder of the Board of Agriculture. Fifth 

 edition, 1832, 



